Pass the mustard please

Scrolling through my Twitter feed this morning I came across this cheering article from The Climate Coalition; a perfect read for a Monday morning. Although several of the top ten reasons to be hopeful about the future of our climate were not news to me, I was pleasantly surprised to read about the Quantas flight from LA to Melbourne powered partly by mustard seeds. A fuel source that is sustainable and quick to grow (without negatively impacting on food supply) and can reduce the carbon emissions of a flight by 7% sounds like a great idea.

It seems clear now that electricity will take off as the fuel of the future for cars, this will not necessarily be the case for other heavier forms of transport such as planes and lorries. The use of biofuels for planes has previously been a controversial topic with concerns raised over the potential deforestation to make space to grow the necessary crops. Therefore, the focus recently seems to have largely been on developing waste based fuels. If this article is anything to go by, then mustard seeds could provide a sustainable solution as they can be grown between wheat crops as part of a crop rotation system to help maintain soil quality.

This a is great story putting sustainability at the heart of business innovation. And as always not wanting to be seen of bias to only one course other fuel sources are available !

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It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a…plane fuelled by mustard seeds? Qantas Airways have used mustard seeds in the first ever biofuel flight from Australia to the US.